Children taking steroid inhalers for asthma may grow at a slower rate and are half an inch shorter as adults, a study has found. Researchers compared 1,000 children taking either a steroid inhaler, a non-steroid inhaler or a dummy drug to prevent asthma symptoms and measured their growth into adulthood. It was thought that slower growth experienced by children on steroid inhalers was temporary and that they 'caught up'.